Francisco Goya used the privilege provided him as portraitist of the monarchy and aristocracy to create a series of etchings critiquing Spanish life at the end of the eighteenth century. With them, Goya took aim at what he saw as backward thinking: a church that hunted heretics, peasant superstitions, and the upper class’s brutal treatment of the poor. Goya is considered the first Modern artists, for his innovative painting techniques and social commentary.